Rosamund Pike on Doom (2005): A catastrophe and a cautionary tale for game-to-film adaptions

Rosamund Pike has recently revisited the 2005 video game adaptation Doom, calling it a catastrophe and one of the worst films ever made. The actress, who starred alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Karl Urban in the sci‑fi actioner, has been blunt about the project in recent interviews.

The film sits in a period when video game adaptations were widely lampooned as a joke, from early misfires like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat to the infamous live-action Mario. By contrast, today’s game-to-film releases—Sonic, Mario, and Minecraft among them—have shown there’s big money to be made when studios get it right.

In her conversation with How to Fail with Elizabeth Day, Pike recalled joining Doom after Pride and Prejudice, joking about how she imagined she could handle any challenge after a season in a bonnet in her “cornfields.” She described the moment she realized she’d stepping into a heavy-action franchise and felt distinctly out of her depth, teeing up the film’s famously blunt on-set energy and the expectations of Doom’s devoted fanbase.

Pike has been candid about the practical hurdles on set, noting the atmosphere of machismo and the weight of fans who demanded authenticity whenever a gun appeared onscreen. Those pressures, she said, contributed to a tense working environment that didn’t mesh with her comfort zone or experience as a leading action star.

Doom’s reception reflected the rougher reputation of the era’s game movie attempts. The film grossed less than its production budget worldwide and holds a tepid Rotten Tomatoes score of 18%. Pike herself has described the movie in stark terms: an “absolute bomb,” possibly “one of the worst films ever made,” and “a catastrophe.” She even mused that she’s relieved to still have a career after such a high-profile misfire.

For fans curious about what makes a video game adaptation work—and what doesn’t—there are plenty of strong examples to explore beyond Doom’s troubled legacy.